ITU-T H.264/MPEG-4 part 10 is an international video coding standard, developed by Joint Video Team (JVT) formed from experts of International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). ITU-T H.264/MPEG-4 part 10 is also referred to as MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding). In MPEG-4 AVC, an interlaced video frame can be structured and coded (i.e., encoded) as a single frame picture in frame mode, or as a two separate field pictures in field mode. MPEG-4 AVC allows adaptive switching between frame and field coding mode per frame. MPEG-4 AVC allows high quality video at lower bit rates without a prohibitive increase in the complexity of applying the standard when compared to previous standards.
Multiple programs are known to be encoded using previous standards and sent over a common channel having a fixed limited bandwidth using a technique known as statistical multiplexing, which may be applied to MPEG-4 AVC. Statistical multiplexing is a type of communication link sharing in which a communication channel is divided into an arbitrary number of variable bit-rate (VBR) digital channels or data streams. The multiple programs may be statistically multiplexed using a plurality of two-pass encoders. The communication channel is known to have a bandwidth limitation. Because the multiple programs are VBR and the communication channel has a bandwidth limitation, bit distribution over the multiple programs is known to be problematic.